672 bR. A. GTJNTHER ON NEW FISHES [Nov. 21, 



truncated behind ; it extends to or slightly beyond the mandibulary 

 joint. Gill-rakers closely set, the longest nearly as long as the eye ; 

 there are thirteen in the upper part of the branchial arch, and from 

 twenty-two to twenty-four in the lower. Origin of the dorsal fin 

 nearer to the end of the snout than to the root of the caudal. The 

 anal fin commences at a short distance behind the last dorsal ray. 

 Abdomen trenchant, with the spiny scutes scarcely extending to the 

 root of the pectoral fins. Pectoral fins not quite reaching the ven- 

 trals. Back bluish green, sides silvery. 



Red Sea, Zanzibar, Mysol, Manado (Meyer). 



Clupea sprattus. 



The British Museum has recently received four Clupeoids from 

 Tasmania, through the kindness of Mr. Morton Allport. They were 

 accompanied with the following notes from ' Papers and Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society of Tasmania' for May 1867: — 



"A note from Mr. Calder, containing the following extract from a 

 letter received by him from Bruni Island was read : — • Last week a 

 curious circumstance took place in Simmon's Cove. An immense 

 shoal of small fish of the Sprat kind(?) was driven into the Cove by 

 larger kinds, such as the Barracouta, Kingfish, and others, in such 

 numbers that they absolutely suffocated each other, and drifted 

 ashore in such quantities that you will hardly believe me when I tell 

 you there are at least one hundred tons there, and fully two hundred 

 more at the bottom of the water, all dead. They are now quite 

 putrid, and the smell can be perceived fully a mile and a half off. 

 The top of the water is covered with a quantity of oil which has 

 exuded from the dead fish. We are longing for a high tide to carry 

 them away. Many carts and boats have been at work, taking them 

 for manure, yet they appear no less in quantity. I have been cal- 

 culating that, supposing four of these fish to weigh one ounce, the 

 number of the dead will amount to forty-three millions and eight 

 thousand.' 



" Mr. M. Allport observed that a similar migration of these fish 

 to our shores had taken place in 1844, and numbers of them passed 

 far up the Derwent. They represented the Pilchard of the Northern 

 Hemisphere, and were, no doubt, identical with those which had 

 lately visited Port Phillip. Although they were the representatives 

 of the Pilchard, it was possible some slight traces of difference ex- 

 isted between them, as was generally the case with all representatives 

 of animals in the two hemispheres." 



The four Clupeoids sent belong to two distinct species. The one 

 is the variety of the common European Anchovy which I have de- 

 scribed as Engraulis encrasicholus, var. antipodum. The second is 

 the common European Sprat, Clupea sprattus. At first I thought 

 the Tasmanian fishes might be distinguished from the European form 

 by the apparent absence of palatine teeth ; but during a more careful 

 examination I found these teeth as well developed as in CI. sprattus, 

 so that I cannot hesitate to refer them to the same species. 



A Pilchard, or a species representing the Pilchard, was not among 



